Latin Kings of Alba Longa - Background

Background

For more details on this topic, see Alba Longa.

In Roman mythology, the Kingdom of Alba Longa was an ancient monarchy located in the present-day region of Latium in Italy. Its capital was Alba Longa but it included other cities such as Lavinium and Latium. Although archaeology has confirmed that Rome was founded by a colony of people from Alba Longa, there are no historical records for the period.

According to legend, after the fall of Troy, the Trojan prince Aeneas led a band of refugees driven by destiny to found a new city, eventually arriving in Italy. The traditional date of the war was established by Eratosthenes as 1183 BC, leaving a gap of some four centuries until the traditional founding of Rome in 753 BC. The genealogy of the Alban kings justified the close ties between Rome and its Latin communities, and enhanced the status of Latin families who could claim descent from a legendary ancestor. Such was the eagerness to claim a Trojan pedigree in the Late Republic that 15 different lists of the Alban kings from Aeneas to Romulus survive.

The son of Aeneas was Ascanius, also known as Iulus, from which the gens name Iulius, as in Gaius Julius Caesar, was supposed to derive. Ascanius is the legendary founder of Alba Longa. His successor was Silvius, his half-brother and the son of Aeneas and Lavinia, and the grandson of Latinus. They never ruled from Alba Longa but resided in Lavinium. Although the exact location of Alba Longa remains difficult to prove, there is archaeological evidence of Iron Age settlements in the area traditionally identified as the site.

The names on the list are formed variously. Some are based on place names around Rome, such as Tiberinus, Aventinus, Alba, and Capetus. Others are rationalizations of mythical figures, or pure inventions to provide notable ancestors for status-seeking Roman families.